Shrink the World
by TheYoungTimpani
Summary: A oneshot-songfic about what happened with Tony and Ziva after Judgment Day. TIVA! All the way! With lots of corny movie referances.


**Disclaimer:** Nope, not mine. Just the story line, not the characters nor the movies.

**Author's Note:** This is the second of my song fic one shots, if you missed the other one it's called "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine"; I've also written and unrelated song fic one shot called "Fix You" and an actual (multiple chapter) fic called "1,050 Miles from Washington". Please enjoy, if anything seems unclear, just read the author's note at the end. If that doesn't clear it up, PM me or ask in your review.

* * *

_If I could then I'd _

_Shrink the world tonight_

_So that I would find _

_You and me inside_

Ziva couldn't believe where she was right now. She couldn't believe what had happened in the last week. Most of all she couldn't believe that the man responsible had a legitimate reason for his actions.

All that aside, she sat in an empty apartment in Tel Aviv, her back against the bare wall, looking to the ceiling in frustration.

This was her home. She should feel happy to be here, near her family, but she couldn't help but think that her family was thousands of miles away.

All the time she had spent homesick for Israel seemed so foolish now, she wanted nothing more than to go back to Washington and see the people that were closer to her than her family ever had been.

_A life in love_

_A picture of_

_A place I'm nowhere near_

In the six hours she had spent in her apartment, she had only unpacked one item. A picture.

She picked it up and smiled a tearful, bittersweet smile at the image it displayed.

It was a picture of herself, smiling and laughing, being picked up and held by the man she felt so strongly about. He was smiling, too, and still managing to laugh even though he was kissing her on the cheek. Ziva ran her thumb over the man's face, as if expecting it to feel like his skin.

They looked so happy, the perfect couple, but they had never played that card. They were "just friends", even though they both knew that they both felt more.

She looked at them, herself and Tony, as tears flowed freely down her cheeks she wondered where he was. She wondered if she'd ever get a chance to tell him how she felt.

_A bleeding heart_

_A good head start_

_To anywhere but here_

During her first year in Washington, she found herself wanting to come back to Israel most every day. Now, she realized, there was nothing here for her. All the family she needed was in Washington...except for Tony who was God knows where on some damned boat.

She picked up her cell phone to make a call that she knew could change her life. In six hours she had made a decision that would make her life do a 180 where it stood. This call even had the potential to ruin her life...or even end it.

But people do crazy things when they are in love, do they not?

_Just let me out_

_Please, let me out_

She reached her father and spoke to him in Hebrew, "Father?"

"Ziva?" he said, sounding confused and surprised, "What do you need?"

"Father, I do not know how to say this..."

"Come on, Ziva, you can say it to me," he coaxed.

"I don't want you to be ashamed of me..."

"Ziva, you are my daughter, I could never be ashamed of you."

"You haven't heard what I need yet, Father."

"Go on."

"Father, I...I need out of Mossad..."

"Out of Mossad? Ziva, surely you are not serious?"

"I am."

"Why? Who has put you up to this? Ziva David, you aren't a traitor like your bastard brother, are you?"

"Don't ever speak about Ari like that!" she snapped at him.

"Why are you wanting to leave Mossad?!" he shouted back.

"It's personal," she growled.

"It's that Italian boy, isn't it? He's got you pregnant, hasn't he?" Deputy Director David pried.

"I'm not pregnant," she replied, angrily.

"You aren't denying that it's the Italian boy."

"Tony! His name is Tony! Not 'the Italian boy'! His name is Anthony DiNozzo! And yes, he is why I want out of Mossad," she confessed.

"...Ziva..." her father sounded disappointed, "You could stay here in Israel. Settle down with a nice Jewish boy. There are many good men in Mossad."

"I don't want any of the Israeli men, Father!" she snapped.

"Oh, so you have gone to America and now you are better than us, is that it?!" he demanded.

"That's ridiculous!" she shouted.

"Then what is it, Ziva? What is so special about him? Why would you give up all these years of hard work for this man?"

"Because, Father...I love him..."she said, feebly, unsure how he would handle this explanation.

"Ziva, does he really mean this much to you?" he asked skeptically.

"He means the world to me, Father," she said, looking at the picture in her hands.

"Ziva, if he means this much to you, I can arrange for the two of you to be together. I am a very powerful man, in case you have forgotten."

"The new director of NCIS split us apart. That's why I'm back here-"

"It wasn't voluntary?" Deputy Director David interrupted.

"What? No, of course not. He told me that the position had been terminated," Ziva responded, confused.

"No, Ziva, I just sent the paperwork to the U.S., you were supposed to stay for at least three more years," he explained.

Ziva's eyes widened in shock and she drew in a deep breath.

"What did this man do with the rest of your team?" he asked.

"He reassigned Tim McGee, gave Jethro Gibbs a new team and made Tony the officer afloat aboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan," she explained quickly.

"Ziva, tell me, would this Jethro Gibbs be willing to defy his new director's authority?"

"If it would help him get his team back, I'm sure he would."

"I will be in contact with him, until then, you will be aboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan. You and...Tony will await my command and prepare to return to Washington, do you understand, Officer David?" he told her, switching from father-mode to boss-mode seamlessly.

"Yes, sir," she responded, smiling from ear to ear.

_Before I turn into_

_A box of things reminding me_

_How much I'm missing you_

_I am missing you_

After the phone call, she opened the box that the photo had been in and unpacked enough items to fill a small suitcase, she pulled on one of Tony's NCIS hoodies that she had acquired due to his disorganization and began to pack.

She had packed relatively few personal items; just the photo, her necklace, a small stuffed Brutus Buckeye figure that Tony had gave her after she admitted that she used to have several stuffed toys, and a printoff that McGee had given her of herself and Tony's hypothetic love-child...she was willing to bet money that the real thing would be cuter.

She placed all these items in a side compartment of the suitcase, closed it and ran out the door to catch her helicopter.

_If I could then I'd_

_Shrink the world tonight_

_So that I would find_

_You and me inside_

The flight was a long one and anticipation made it worse. She didn't know what she would do when she saw Tony. She knew what she wanted to do.

She _wanted_ to run to him, jump into his arms, kiss him as romantically as she could and promise that she'd never leave him again...but that might be a little too...not subtle...

Actually, she couldn't believe the series of events that had unfolded that evening. She had called her father in order to resign, she could only assume that he would be disappointed and angry.

She was half right, he was angry, but not at her. At this very moment, her father and Gibbs were discussing a plan to get the team back together.

The man that never even came to her dance recitals was fighting to keep her happy. He was doing this for her.

She could almost forgive him for how much he had neglected her as a child, because now he was putting his job on the line to make sure she could stay with the man she loved.

_Of the last good scene_

_A film that changes things_

_Breaks us makes us sing_

_Leaves us wondering_

Ziva couldn't wait to see Tony again. To tell him what was going on. She was sure that he would have a movie reference to compare this to, she didn't care. She would listen to a million movie quotes if it meant she got to stay with Tony.

She thought about some of the movies Tony had made her watch, like the one with the two street fighter boys who fought off some thug-alien yakuza. He had walked around telling people that Ziva was missing screws all week, then he would walk up behind her and whisper in her ear, "I've got all your missing screws. I've got every one!"

Maybe she did have screws missing. Maybe Tony did have them. Maybe she was willing to let them try. She just hoped he was.

_And through the wall_

_My fist, you call_

_But then you always run_

Tony hadn't thought it possible, but it had happened.

Vance actually split up the team.

He through his head back against the headboard of his bunk and sighed.

Here he was, aboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, hundreds of thousands of miles away from all his...family. Because that's what they were. A family.

He wanted nothing more than to shrink that distance, to see the ones he loved when he opened his eyes, but no matter how many times he blinked, all he say was cold, gray steel.

_So what's it for_

_The love and war_

_It's only fair for some_

He thought about the events that had transpired. He thought about the one person that was there for him, every time he blamed himself she was there to assure him that it wasn't his fault.

He knew that if anyone knew it was his fault as much as he did, it was her. She tried to get him to go to find Jenny. She tried to convince him that she was in trouble, but he hadn't listened. He never listened to her when it was something important.

Slowly, but surely, he had come to realize that he was in love with her. After Jenny's death, they both needed comforting and were beginning to rely on each other.They had a chance to give it a chance, but Vance ripped it from them.

He thought back, Gibbs had lost the woman he loved in a storm of gunfire and he had lost the woman he loved to a crooked man with a loud devil in his ear.

The saying wasn't true and if Tony ever met the man who coined the phrase, he planned on gutting him like a fish. If the recent events had taught Tony anything it was this: All's _not _fair in love and war.

_You save the girl_

_You save the world_

_That's not true it seems_

Tony had played the hero so many times, yet here he was, letting some slick talking con artist control him. But even Gibbs had complied. What's going on around here?

_A lesson learned_

_Speak out of turn_

_I bite my tongue it bleeds_

_Bite my tongue it bleeds_

Someone had made Vance very angry and now the team had to pay for it...he would never see the woman he loved again.

_If I could then I'd_

_Shrink the world tonight_

_So that I would find_

_You and me inside_

Tony heard the flight crew scrambling to prepare for a helicopter landing. He would give anything for her to be on that plane. He would give anything to hold Ziva in his arms right now.

If he could just bring her to him it would be worth all the money in the world.

_Of the last good scene_

_A film that changes things_

_Breaks us makes us sing_

_Leaves us wondering_

_Are you wondering?_

He remembered when he watched _Apollo 13_ with Ziva, he remembered trying to put himself in Marilyn Lovell's place. He wondered if he could have ever stayed as strong knowing that there was a chance he would never see the person he loved again.

He thought he was holding up pretty good, he hadn't thrown himself overboard yet, that's always a good sign.

He wondered if Ziva had given up on seeing him again. He wondered if Gibbs had given up on getting the team back together.

_If I could then I'd_

_Shrink the world tonight_

_So that I would find_

_You and me inside_

He heard some people walking down the hall, they stopped a few feet from his door and he paused to listen.

"Special Agent DiNozzo's room is right there, Officer David."

"Thank you," replied a voice that sounded beautifully familiar.

He ran over to the door and threw it open, calling, "Ziva?"

"Tony!" she shouted, practically running to him.

He grabbed her and picked her up off the ground in the closest embrace he could manage. He was never going to let her go again.

Caught up in the moment, without a thought at all, Tony turned his face to face Ziva and, without hesitation, kissed her softly on the lips.

"I missed you, Tony," she sighed, as he pulled away.

"I missed you, too, Ziva," he smiled, still not believing what was happening.

_Of the last good scene_

_A film that changes things_

_Breaks us makes us sing_

_Leaves us wondering_

He took her hands and led her back into his room. She closed the door behind him and sat next to him on his bunk.

"Ziva, what are you doing here?" he asked, awestruck.

"Remember the time that Bobby Boucher showed up at halftime and the MudDogs won the Bourbon Bowl?" she quoted.

He just laughed, "And you say that _I _have poor taste in movies."

"Well, just consider my father Bobby Boucher to our team's MudDogs," she said.

"Can I be Farmer Fran?" he asked, "Actually I'd rather be Bobby Boucher to your voodoo girl. So we can DO IT! We can do it ALL NIGHT LONG!"

She slapped him playfully, "Yeah, you're Farmer Fran; I'm the good-looking quarterback; McGee's the big cross-eyed guy who can only grunt; Gibbs is Coach Kline and Vance is-"

"Colonel Sanders?"

"No, the mean coach that they have to play against in the Bourbon Bowl...I forget his name..."she smiled, she couldn't believe that it had been _her_ that made the movie reference instead of him.

_If I could_

_Shrink the world tonight_

"So, what you're saying is..."

"We're getting the band back together, Jake," she laughed.

"You've become me!" he teased.

"Oh, god...I have..." she said, looking scared.

"So do we have a secret base for getting the team back together? Uncle Bob's Country Bunker? 1060 West Addison?" Tony teased.

"Ha ha...I've just missed you so much that I was channeling your behavior."

"That's really scary."

"Try living it."

"I cannot even begin to fathom it."

"Oh, come on, Tony. You are the it to fathom."

"Huh?"

"It doesn't matter."

"So, we're getting the team back together?"

"Right."

"But, we aren't a team right now?"

"...Right..."she replied suspiciously.

"So Gibbs rule #12 doesn't apply to us?"

"I wouldn't think so..."

"Good," he leaned over to kiss her again, this time with more feeling.

_If I could_

_Shrink the world tonight_

"I love you, Farmer Fran," she smiled up at him.

"I love you, too, Elwood," he smiled back.

* * *

**A.N.:** Yeah, that's right, I am that cheesy.

First off, the song is called...you guessed it _Shrink the World _and it's by Yellowcard.

Next, I don't speak Hebrew, so you just have to pretend that Ziva and her father conversed in their native tongue.

Third, the movie Ziva references at first is _Tekkon Kinkreet, _which is this awesome anime movie.

Fourth, yeah, the time might be a little out of whack...it's fiction, deal with it.

Fifth, I like _Apollo 13_. There. I said it.

Sixth, yes, Ziva did reference _The Waterboy_. I thought it was funny...and I really thought it was funny that it was Ziva doing the referencing.

Seventh, _Blues Brothers,_ too.

Eighth, I am a Cubs fan. 1060 West Addison is Wrigley Field. Go Cubs!

Ninth, at Bob's Country Bunker they have both kinds of music: Country _and _western!

And finally, you'll just have to make up how Gibbs and Deputy Director David get the team back together, because that's the end of this one.

Please review...Elwood and Farmer Fran would really like you to (whichever Elwood and Farmer Fran you want it to be).


End file.
